question about swirls

A

ahunt01

New member
Hi, my car is currently heavily swirled. I really do not want to have it buffed out and lose a layer of my clearcoat, I'd much rather fill the swirls in and live with it. I currently use Zaino, which everyone knows does not do a good job filling in swirls lol. I reading up on Blackfire and notice that it uses a polish that fills in swirls then a topper with a polymer sealant. Does it in fact hide swirls, better than Z5? I used to use Zymol, and it did an excelent job of hiding ANY minor imperfection in my paint, it just didn't last. What else can I do to hide the swirls if Blackfire will not do the trick? I really want to stick with polymer sealants though, I'm spoiled lol.

Thanks for any help :bow ,

Adam
 
For very minor swirls, SG works ok, but if you have lots, then you're better off using a glaze and wax regularly. But the ultimate solution is to polish of course.
 
I talked to the dealership today and they said they are willing to pay to have it fixed. The guy that I am thinking of going to said he uses a 3m finessit 3 system. He claims it isn't that abrasive, but it rather chemically heats up when used with a high speed dual action rotary and removes swirls that way. Does that sound correct/good? Professional? I ask because I don't know if there is alot of really good people in my area, and this guy was recommended by Honda as being the best.



Oh yeah, he also mentioned something about a possible Teflon coating that some other shop could put on my car to cover up the swirls, but he didn't know how permanent it would be. Anyone heard of that? Anyone know more about it? I never have heard of it.

Thanks a bunch for any info,

Adam
 
Lynn said:
If you'll run this search I think you'll get good info on the Teflon issue.
Click to expand...



Agreed. I could give you a simple answer, but you'll understand things a lot more if you do some research and studying. A "high speed dual action rotary" polisher is contradictory - it would make much more sense if you read the "Polishing by Machine" articles.



Thanks!
 
BW said:
A "high speed dual action rotary" polisher is contradictory...
Click to expand...
Yeah I thought so too! :lol Better ask him to clarify that again (not that it really matters if you're getting him to do it).



What 2wheelsx2 said. :up



I think if you don't want to totally remove the swirling (best) you should at least reduce them - this will aid your later efforts.



I would tell the shop not to apply any protection and just do this step myself.



Good luck and happy reading too!
 
A "high speed dual action rotary" polisher is contradictory...
Click to expand...

Hehe well I think he said that, I know it was some kind of machine lol. That sounded about right but I'm not sure. From what I'm gathering, just the fact that he mentioned Teflon should be a cue for me not to go with him. It seems any GOOD detailer should be aware of teflon, and is also aware that it is bs. He owns a Collision Center, so maybe he is better at body work than removing fine swirls and scratches? To me, there is alot of little cues jumping out that he isn't too professional. He had never heard of Zaino, and wasn't very familiar with sealants or waxes. He was saying that "the older swirl removers used to be abrasive, you could put it inbetween your fingers and rub it around and feel the grit, the new stuff such as 3m finisse it you can put on your fingers and not feel the grit so it is non abrasive." I don't know if that is true or not, but it doesn't sound right to me. Instead of going to this guy and having the dealer pay for it, I'm tempted to go to someone else and pay for it myself...:sosad
 
ahunt01- Generally, the info you're getting from the "Collision Center" guy is BS. Hence, I would NOT believe anything he says and I CERTAINLY would NOT let him do the car! I believe that WHENEVER someone gives you those little "clues" that they're "off", you SHOULD NOT let them into your life!



You CAN remove/diminish many/most of your swirls WITHOUT removing too much (>.3 mils) of your clearcoat. Really. Yes, an abrasive is used to remove some clear (the part that has the swirls in it). No, that is NOT a problem unless too much is removed. VERY significant improvements can be made by removing just a very little.



It might be tough to find a decent shop to do this job. SO many people who CLAIM to be able to do it will do worse than you would, by far. If you pay a shop to do this, take 4DSC's advice and DO NOT let them put the final product on the car, do that yourself. Actually, I'd say do it ALL yourself. At least you'll KNOW what was used on/done to your car. You won't "hurt" anything. If you don't get the results you want, you can always have someone else try it later.



SG doesn't do much, if anything, to hide swirls on my silver cars. BF works a little better, but I wouldn't say it really HIDES them. At least not like the ad copy implies.
 
Just look at the photos on this boad. A PC and a few different swirl removers and some high quality polish (zaino..blackfire...)will do wonders. At the very least, the edges of the swirls will be rounded and less reflective to light.... it will be okay!...lol...
 
Accumulator said:
.....Actually, I'd say do it ALL yourself....
Click to expand...
:lol That's the best advice! :D I hate trusting my car to other people - it's too often just lead to headaches or disappointment.
 
Blackfire's polish, from my experience, isn't too abrassive. It minimizes some swirls but they are still there. I think I'm going to use 3m swirl mark remover because I use the polish then sealant. Then again, on a 95k car, I'm happy people ask if it's new still.
 
I'm not stuck on Zaino. What kind of product could I use to fill my swirls, and then what kind of sealant could I use to cover up the filler? I love sealants:D
 
Well if your car is "heavily" swirled I'm not sure if any sealant would help that much. Reportedly sealants (like Klasse) don't fill swirls quite as well as real glazes, and even glaze can't work miracles on moderate to bad swirls... I'm not sure about sealants over fillers - that's usually not they way it goes, but look into this newer EX stuff maybe...
 
Corey Bit Spank said:
Blackfire's polish, from my experience, isn't too abrassive. It minimizes some swirls but they are still there. I think I'm going to use 3m swirl mark remover because I use the polish then sealant. Then again, on a 95k car, I'm happy people ask if it's new still.
Click to expand...



Isn't it cool when you get that "is it new" question?! I've found that a NON-filling SMR like PI-III works best before BF polish. Otherwise the polish just cleans off the fillers without adequately replacing them.





ahunt01- Many/most sealants are gonna have problems bonding over any heavy fillers. Gotta tell you, after NUMEROUS mild polishings (over more than six years), when Accumulatorette's S4 got rear-ended at 96K miles, there was PLENTY of clearcoat left on it. Mild polishes like PI-III, SMRs, etc. just don't remove that much clear. I honestly think you oughta just polish the swirls out. Note that I'm one of those guys who cautions against removing every little flaw because I worry about compromising the clearcoat. I'd rather have imperfect but original paint (18 year old original paint on my Jaguar). But polishing from time to time just isn't an issue. Sorry if I'm being a pain, I don't mean to beat you over the head with my $0.02...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top